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Two Americans Failed to Get Away With It-A Remarkable Story .Which a Toledoan Says is Not aFairyTale-A Hidden Altar.looted' carrying their 'burdens of precious atones to a hiding- place beneath the Hags tones in a cathedral yard. Shortly afterwards. Baker's companion died. Baker returned to his home in New York and then went to Hillsdale, Mich. ,Fifteen years after plundering the cathedrals he confided his story to an intimate friend. The friend wrote to the Mexican government asking “if there would be any chance o f a ‘divvy’ of the spoils” if he should tell the government where it could find the valuable altar decorations that had been stolen.In a letter bearing the official sea! the Hilsdale man received warning that if he knew of any one who had a hand in the notorious pillaging, or if he himself had participated in it, he would do well to forget all he knew about it and “keep mum” lest his life be sacrificed in revenge for the desecration of the cathedrals. Baker took the advice, but still intended to secure the treasure he had buried.Toledo, Dec. 26,—The Bee says:Warren .1, Baker, secretary of the North western Ohio Masonic Relief association, makes public the secret history of the looting of Catholic cathedrals during the Mexican war, tells how it was done and of the burial of the treasurer. His tongue was loosened by a new.sjaper dispatch from Mexico City telling of the discovery of a chest of diamonds, sap-phi res, rubies, pearls and golden im-J ages beneath the flagstones in the chapel of Las Yozcaines college, in Mexico City. Mr. Baker’s story rivals the mythical tales of Capt. Kidd, but bears the unmistakable stamp of truth.He says that his father marchedfrom Vera Cruz to .Mexico City withBen. Scott's army during the Mexi-f can war. He and a tentinate, after plotting for weeks, dug their way into some of the richest cathedrals and pillaged them of their fabulous wealth of alt sorts of valuable stones and'huge golden images. For hours the? I* * - 1
Newspaper Details
Elyria Weekly Chronicle
Elyria, Ohio, US
Sat, Dec 20, 1902
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Greg M.
NA, 28 Dec 2024
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